In a manufacturing process of a semiconductor device, a resist film is formed in a predetermined pattern on a film to be processed formed on a substrate (hereinafter, also referred to as “wafer”) such as a semiconductor wafer, and a processing such as an etching or an ion injection is performed on the film using the resist film as a mask. After the processing, the resist film which becomes unnecessary is removed from the wafer.
As a removal method of the resist film, the process using Sulfuric Acid Hydrogen Peroxide Mixture (SPM) is frequently used. The SPM process is performed by supplying a high temperature SPM liquid obtained by mixing sulfuric acid having been heated and a hydrogen peroxide to the resist film on the wafer from a SPM liquid supply nozzle. In this case, the wafer is held by the substrate holding unit and the SPM liquid supplied to the wafer is discharged from a first discharge path provided on an outer periphery of the substrate holding unit.
After the SPM process is completed, a rinsing liquid is supplied to the wafer from a rinsing liquid supply nozzle. In this case, the rinsing liquid supplied to the wafer is discharged from a second discharge path other than the first discharge path.
Meanwhile, a switching operation of switching from the SPM liquid supply nozzle (a first nozzle) to the rinsing liquid supply nozzle (a second nozzle) as well as a switching operation from a path that guides the liquid discharged from the wafer to a first discharge path to another path that guides the liquid discharged from the wafer to a second discharge path, are needed between a process of supplying the SPM liquid (a first processing liquid) to the wafer and a process of supplying the rinsing liquid (a second processing liquid) to the wafer.
Therefore, a processing time is the sum of a time to supply the SPM liquid (the first processing liquid) to the wafer, a time to supply the rinsing liquid (the second processing liquid) to the wafer, a time to switch from the SPM liquid supply nozzle (a first nozzle) to the rinsing liquid supply nozzle (a second nozzle) and a time to switch from the first discharge path to the second discharge path. Under the circumstances, the entire processing time needs to be much shorter in the recent manufacturing process of semiconductor devices.
See, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2007-35866